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Leveson inquiry: Atkins hammered over lies to police

Michael Atkins has been hammered over why he lied to police about the disappearance of his boyfriend Matthew Leveson in 2007 at the coronial inquest into the mystery.

Snippets of Atkins's interview with homicide detectives on the Thursday after Matt was last seen on Sunday, September 23, were played in the NSW coroner's court this afternoon.

The video showed Atkins denying he had purchased a mattock and duct tape from Bunnings Warehouse at Taren Point on the Sunday afternoon. Even when police told him they had security footage of him making the purchase, Atkins refused to admit it was him and declined an offer to view the tape.

"I didn't want it looking bad on me, I suppose, buying a mattock," Atkins said when counsel assisting Lester Fernandez asked why he had lied.

Atkins added he "never had a lot of trust with police".

"I think at that point I thought I was some sort of suspect," he said.

"I was panicked and not thinking straight, I was a drug dealer at a police station...I hadn't slept in 36 hours," he said, adding 12 hours to his previous estimate on how long he'd gone without rest.

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Mr Fernandez countered by reminding Atkins what he had said on Monday, the first day of the inquest - that he had listed the Leveson family and police as people who he'd tell the truth to.

"You knew in your mind there was no innocent explanation (for buying the mattock)," Mr Fernandez suggested, reminding him that he had said the reason he didn't search for Matt was because he felt that was the police's job.

Atkins denied these accusations.

Mr Fernandez suggested the tape he bought could have been used to bind a canvas sheet or tarpaulin or "something else you could wrap around a body".

Atkins rejected this contention.

"What you said was lies, you lied to police when you told them you had no explanation, didn't you?" Mr Fernandez said, describing Atkins's story that he had bought the items for gardening as "fanciful".

"Yes," Atkins replied.

Atkins also admitted he had deliberately omitted the fact that he had driven Matthew's car to Bunnings, a detail he has been loathe to give a straight answer on during the inquest.

When police asked him how he felt when they informed him they had found Matthew's Toyota Corolla at Waratah Oval in Sutherland, and that a receipt from Bunnings itemising the purchase was found in the back, Atkins told them he was "surprised".

"Is there anything you can say about (the discovery of the vehicle)?" one of the detectives asked him.

"Don't think so," Atkins said.

The session, during which Atkins was repeatedly told to stop looking at the transcript of the police interview while he was cross-examined, closed out a particularly rough day on the stand for the former murder-accused.

Earlier, the court heard how Atkins had organised a late-night liaison with a gay man in Newcastle the day after he had visited Sutherland police station with Mark and Faye Leveson.

He couldn't explain why he had not showered or changed his clothes before he went to meet the man, with whom he had had dalliances online, in person for the first time.

But he denied having stopped on the drive up from Cronulla, or that he had done any "heavy digging" on the way.